English is full of phrases and expressions which you can hear in regular conversation. Mind you is a common one:
Pavel, a Prague lawyer, took his Australian friend Lance to the Old Town. He thought they’d have a nice walk, and then grab a coffee. Instead, Lance stayed put and took photo after photo of all the old buildings!
Pavel called his girlfriend and told her all about it:
“I can’t believe this – we’ve already been here an hour on the main square! Says he’s already taken over 100 photos, unbelievable. Mind you, he is Australian..”
Pavel is saying ‘he’s Australian’ not just because Lance is from Australia, but because he knows that we don’t have such old buildings like you have in Prague in our cities.
He’s using the phrase mind you to explain why he thinks Lance is taking a longer time looking at all the buildings – Lance is on holiday and this is the first time he’s seen such old architecture.
Mind you is used to offer an explanation for something which you’ve just commented on. Often the new sentence with ‘mind you‘ contrasts with what you just said, or it lets you introduce an explanation which might come as a surprise to the listener.
It allows you to ‘think out aloud’ as you work out or evaluate your opinion:
– “He’s not really a good dancer. Mind you, he does learn quickly.”
– “She doesn’t really give her boyfriend much attention. Mind you, she has had a tough year.”
– “I can’t believe how expensive that shop was. Mind you, that jacket did look pretty good.”
Word Bank
Grab a coffee = ‘grab‘ is used often in Australia and Britain to mean ‘go for‘ or ‘have‘.
Stay put = to stay in the same place
He told her all about it = you can use this as a reporting phrase.Eg:
“He told me all about his job.”
“She told me all about the problems she was having.”
I can’t believe this = you can say this when you’re really surprised by something
Have a tough | rough year = have a difficult year. You might hear someone say: “Man, I’ve had a rough day.”
More Spoken English Phrases To Check Out
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I’ve heard that the expression “mind you” is more used in British English and is not so common in the USA. Is is true? From the context in your examples I understand it is something like an excuse or explanation for a behavior, a kind of “you know”, right?
Hi Sergio
Personally I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more common outside of the USA, but it is a very common collocation that you’ll hear anyhow. It’s listed in different dictionaries, including Webster’s and the Free Dictionary (USA), without any strong cultural remark, except to say some Brits might say it without the ‘you’ ie just ‘mind‘.
Interestingly, I don’t like it when dictionaries write ‘British English’ because it gives students the impression that it’s only frequent in Britain (in reality, what the dictionaries call ‘British English’ is often frequent in Australia, NZ, Ireland, Sth Africa and even Canada).
Possible synonyms could be: “then again” or “having said that” or “actually.”
I think “you know” can also fit or “..but you know..”
Thanks for your question Sergio – as a result I found the Webster’s US learner’s dictionary, which could come in handy 🙂 http://www.learnersdictionary.com/
David